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THE 

Relations of Civil Engineering 

* 
TO 

Other Branches of Science. 



AN ADDRESS 



TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF ARTS AND 

SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION, 

ST. LOUIS, MO. 



SEPTEMBER 21. 1904, 



BY 

J. A. L. WADDELL, D. Sc, LL. D. 









PRESS OF 



KANSAS CITY 



THE 



Relations of Civil Engineering 



TO 



Other Branches of Science. 



AN ADDRESS 

TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF ARTS AND 

SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION, 

ST. LOUIS, MO., SEPTEMBER 21, 1904. 

BY J. A. L. WADDELL, D. Sc, LL. D. 



The topic set for this address is "The Relations of Civil Engi' 
neering to Other Branches of Science." In its broad sense Civil 
Engineering includes all branches of engineering except, perhaps, 
the militar}^ This is its scope as recognized by two of the highest 
authorities, viz., the American Society of Civil Engineers and the 
Institution of Civil Engineers of Great Britain ; for these two 
societies of Civil Engineers admit to their ranks members of all 
branches of engineering. It is evident, though, from a perusal 
of the Programme of this Congress that the Organizing Commit- 
tee intended to use the term in a restricted sense, because it has 
arranged for addresses on mechanical, electrical, and mining en- 
gineering. But what are the proper restrictions of the term is, 
up to the present time, a matter of individual opinion, no author- 
ity having as yet attempted definitely to divide engineering work 
among the various branches of the profession. To do so would, 
indeed, be a most difficult undertaking; for not only do all large 
constructions involve several branches of engineering, but also 
the profession is constantly being more minutely divided and 



subdivided. For instance, there are recognized to-day by the 
general public, if not formally by the profession, the -specialities 
of architectural, bridge, chemical, electrical, harbor, highway, 
hydraulic, landscape, marine, mechanical, metallurgical, mining, 
municipal, railroad, and sanitary engineering, and possibly other 
divisions; and the end is not yet, for the tendency of modern 
times in all walks of life is to specialize. 

Between Tredgold's broad definition of civil engineering, 
which includes substantially all the applied sciences that relate 
to construction, and the absurdly narrow definition which certain 
engineers have lately been endeavoring to establish during the 
course of a somewhat animated discussion and which would con- 
fine civil engineering to dealing with stationary structures only, 
there must be some method of limitation that will recognize the 
modern tendency towards specialization without reducing the hon- 
ored profession of civil engineering to a mere subdivision of 
applied mechanical science. 

Without questioning in any way the correctness of the Tred- 
gold definition, civil engineering will be assumed, for the pur- 
poses of this address, to include the design and construction of 
bridges ; extensive and difficult foundations ; tunneling ; retaining 
walls, sea-walls, and other heavy masonry ; viaducts ; wharves ; 
piers ; docks ; river improvement ; harbors and waterways ; water 
supply; sewerage; filtration; treatment of refuse; highway con- 
struction ; canals ; irrigation works ; dams ; geodetic work ; sur- 
veying; railways (both steam and electric); gas works; manu- 
facturing plants; the general design and construction of plants 
for the production of power (steam, electric, hydraulic, and 
gaseous) ; the general design and construction of cranes, cable- 
ways, breakers, and other mining structures; the heavier struct- 
ural features of office buildings and other large buildings that 
carry heavy loads; the general problems of transportation, quar- 
rying, and the handling of heavy materials ; and all designing and 
construction of a similar nature. 

In contradistinction, mechanical engineering should include 
the design and construction of steam engines, machine tools, loco- 
motives, hoisting and conveying machinery, cranes of the usual 
types, rolling-mill machinery, blast-furnace machinery, and, in 



fact, all machinery which is designed for purely manufacturing 
purposes. 

Electrical engineering should include all essentially electrical 
work, such as the designing, construction, and operation of tele- 
phone and telegraph lines ; electric light plants ; dynamos ; motors ; 
switchboards; wiring; electric devices of all kinds; transmission 
lines; cables (both marine and land) ; and storage batteries. 

Mining engineering should include all under-ground mining 
work ; means for handling the products of mines ; roasting, smelt- 
ing, milling, stamping, and concentrating of ores; drainage and 
ventilation of mines ; disposal of mine refuse ; and similar prob- 
lems. 

It is impracticable to draw hard-and-fast lines between the 
various branches of engineering, becatise, as before indicated, 
nearly all large constructions involve several specialties, conse- 
quently no specialist can confine his attention to a single line of 
work to the exclusion of all other lines. For instance, the bridge 
engineer encounters mechanical and electrical engineering prob- 
lems in designing movable bridges; railroading in approaches to 
bridges; river improvement in the protection of piers and abut- 
ments; highway construction in the pavement of wagon bridges; 
architecture in the machinery houses of swing spans; hydraulic 
engineering in guarding bridges against fire; and chemistry and 
metallurgy in testing materials. The railroad engineer encoun- 
ters architecture and structural engineering in depots, round- 
houses, and other buildings; hydraulic problems in pumping 
plants and bank protection; mechanical engineering in interlock- 
ing plants; and electrical engineering in repair-shop machinery. 
The mining engineer invades the field of mechanical and elec- 
trical engineering in his hoisting, ventilating, and transporting 
machinery ; deals with civil engineering in his surveys ; and en- 
counters chemistry and metallurgy in testing ores. Similarly it 
might be shown that all branches of engineering overlap each 
other and are interdependent. 

It was the general opinion among scientists not many years 
ago that engineering was neither a science nor a profession, but 
merely a trade or business; and even to-day there are a few 
learned men who hold to this notion — some of them, mirahile 



dictu, being engineers ; but that such a view is entirely erroneous 
is now commonly conceded. He is an ill-informed man who to- 
day will deny that civil engineering has become one of the learned 
professions. Its advances in the last quarter of a century have 
been truly gigantic and unprecedented in the annals of profes- 
sional development. It certainly can justly lay claim to being the 
veritable profession of progress ; for the larger portion of the 
immense material advancement of the world during the last cen- 
tury is due primarily and preeminently to its engineers. 

It must be confessed that half a century ago engineering was 
little better than a trade, but by degrees it advanced into an art, 
and to-day, in its higher branches at least, it is certainly a science 
and one of the principal sciences. 

The sciences may be divided into two main groups, viz., "Pure 
Sciences" and "AppHed Sciences." 

The "Pure Sciences" include: — 

1st. Those sciences which deal with numbers and the three 
dimensions in space, the line, the surface, and the volume, or in 
other words "Mathematics." 

2d. Those sciences which deal with inorganic matter, its ori- 
gin, structure, metamorphoses, and properties ; such as geology, 
petrology, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, geography, and astron- 
omy. 

3d. Those sciences which deal with the laws, structure, and 
life of organic matter; such as botany, zoology, entomology, 
anatomy, physiology, and anthropology. 

4th. The social sciences ; such as political economy, sociology, 
philosophy, history, psychology, politics, jurisprudence, education, 
and religion. 

"Applied Sciences" include: — 

1st. Those which relate to the growth and health of organic 
matter; such as medicine, surger}% dentistry, hygiene, agricult- 
ure, floriculture, and horticulture. 

2nd. Those which deal with the transformation of forces and 
inorganic matter, viz., the various lines of engineering, — civil, me- 
chanical, electrical, mining, marine, chemical, metallurgical, 
architectural, etc. 

3rd. Those which relate to economics ; such as industrial or- 



ganizations and manufactures, transportation, commerce, ex- 
change, and insurance. 

Some writers make no distinction between the terms "Political 
Economy" and "Economics," but in this address they are divided, 
the former relating to broad subjects of national importance and 
the latter to minor matters and toi some of the details of larger 
ones. For instance, currency, the national debt, banking, cus- 
toms, taxation, and the subsidizing of industries pertain to "Politi- 
cal Economy," while economy of materials in designing and of cost 
of labor in construction, supplanting of hand power by machinery, 
systemization of work of all kinds, adjustment of grades and 
curvature of railroads to traffic, and time-and-labor saving devices 
come under the head of "Economics." 

The distinctions between the pure and the applied sciences are 
at times extremely difficult to draw, for one science often merges 
almost imperceptibly into one or more of the others. 

The groups of pure sciences that have been enumerated may 
be termed 

The Mathematical Sciences, 

The Physical Sciences, 

The Physiological Sciences, and 

The Social Sciences, 
while the groups of applied sciences may be called 

The Organic Sciences, 

The Constructive Sciences, and 

The Economic Sciences. 
In what follows the preceding nomenclature will be adopted. 
The terming of engineering the "Constructive Science" is a 
happy conception, for engineering is truly and almost exclusively 
the science of construction. The functions of the engineer in 
all cases either are directly constructive or tend towards construc- 
tion. 

The engineer has ever had a due appreciation of all the 
sciences, imagination to see practical possibilities for the results 
of their findings, and the common-sense power of applying them 
to his own use. 

Pure science (barring perhaps political economy) is not con- 
cerned with financial matters, and its devotees often look down 



with lofty disdain upon everything of a utilitarian nature, but 
engineering is certainly the science most directly concerned with 
the expenditure of money. The engineer is the practical man of 
the family of scientists. While he is sufficiently well informed 
to be able to go up into the clouds occasionally with his brethren, 
he is always judicious and comes to earth again. In all his 
thoughts, words, and acts he is primarily utilitarian. It is true 
that he bows down to the goddess of mathematics, but he always 
worships from afar. It is not to be denied that mathematics is 
the mainstay of engineering; nevertheless the true engineer pur- 
sues the subject only so far as it is of practical value, while the 
mathematician seeks new laws and further development of the 
science in the abstract. The engineer does not trouble himself 
to consider space of four dimensions, because there are too many 
things for him to do in the three-dimension space in which he 
lives. Non-Euclidian geometry is barred from his mind for a 
fuller understanding of the geometry which is of use to ordi- 
nary mankind. The mathematician demonstrates that the tri- 
angle is the sole polygonal figure which cannot be distorted, while 
the engineer, recognizing the correctness of the principle, adopts 
it as the fundamental, elementary form for his trusses. The 
mathematician endeavors to stretch his imagination so as to 
grasp the infinite, but the engineer limits his field of action to 
finite, tangible m.atters. 

The geologist, purely studious, points out what he has de- 
duced about the construction of the earth ; but the engineer makes 
the mine pay. 

The chemist discovers certain facts about the effects of differ- 
ent elements in alloys ; but the engineer works out and specifies 
a new material for his structures. Again, the chemist learns 
something about the action of clay combined with carbonate of 
lime when water is added, and from this discovery the engineer 
determines a way to produce hydraulic cement. 

The physicist evolves the theory of the expansive power of 
steam, and the engineer uses this knowledge in the development 
of the steam engine. Again, the physicist determines by both 
theory and experiment the laws governing the pressures exerted 
by liquids, and the engineer applies these laws to the construe- 



tion of dams and ships. 

The botanist with his microscope studies the form and con- 
struction of woods, while the engineer by experimentation de- 
vises means to preserve his timber. 

The biologist points to bare facts that he has discovered, but 
the engineer grasps them and utilizes them for the purification 
of water supplies. 

In short, the aim of pure science is discovery, but the purpose 
of engineering is usefulness. 

The delvers in the mysterious laboratories, the mathematical 
gymnasts, the scholars poring over musty tomes of knowledge, 
are not understood by the work-a-day world, nor do they under- 
stand it. But between stands the engineer with keen and sym- 
pathetic appreciation of the value of the work of the one and a 
ready understanding of the needs and requirements of the other ; 
and by his power of adaptability he grasps the problems pre- 
sented, takes from the investigators their abstract results, and 
transforms them into practical usefulness for the world. 

The work of the engineer usually does not permit him to make 
very extensive researches or important scientific discoveries; nor 
is it often essential to-day for him to do so, as there are numer- 
ous investigators in all lines whose object is to deduce abstract 
scientific facts ; nevertheless there comes a time occasionally in 
the career of every successful engineer when it is necessary for 
him to make investigations more or less abstract, although ulti- 
mately utilitarian ; consequently it behooves engineers to keep 
in touch with the methods. of scientific investigation, in order 
that they may either perform desired experiments themselves, 
or instruct trained investigators how to perform them. 

The engineer must be more or less a genius, who invents and 
devises ways and means of applying all available resources to 
the uses of mankind. His motto, is "utility," and his every 
thought and act must be to employ to the best advantage the 
materials and conditions at hand. To be able to accomplish this 
object he must be thoroughly familiar with all useful materials 
and their physical properties as determined by the investigations 
of the pure scientists. 

Many well known principles of science have lain unused for 



ages awaiting the practical application for which they were just 
suited. The power of steam was known long before the practical 
mind of Watt utilized it in the steam engine. 

The engineer is probably an evolution of the artisan rather 
than of the 'early scientist. His work is becoming more scientific 
because of his relations and associations with the scientific world. 
These relations of the engineer to the sciences are of compara- 
tively recent origin, and this fact accounts for the rapid devel- 
opment in the engineering and industrial world of the past half 
century. The results of this association have been advantageous 
to both the engineer and the pure scientist. The demands of the 
engineers for new discoveries have acted as an incentive for 
greater effort on the part of the investigators. In many 'instances 
the engineer is A^ears in advance of the pure scientist in these de- 
mands ; but, on the other hand, there are, no doubt, many valu- 
able scientific facts now available which will yet work wonders 
when the engineer perceives their practical utility. 

The engineer develops much more fully the faculty of discern- 
m.ent than does the abstract scientist, he is less visionary and more 
practical, less exacting and more commercial. 

It is essential to progress that large stores of scientific knowl- 
edge in the abstract be accumulated and recorded in advance by 
the pure scientists, so that as the engineer encounters the neces- 
sity for their use he can employ them to the best advantage. The 
engineer must be familiar with these stores of useful knowledge 
in order to know what is available. This forms the scientific 
side of the engineer's work. While he must know what has 
been done by investigators, it is not absolutely necessary that he 
know how to make all such researches for himself; although, as 
before stated, there are times in an engineer's practice when such 
knowledge will not come amiss. 

As engineers are specializing more and more, each particular 
specialty becomes more closely allied with the sciences that most 
affect it; consequently, to ensure the very best and most economic 
results in his work the engineeer must keep in close touch with all 
of the scientific discoveries in his line. 

The early engineers, owing to lack of scientific knowledge, 
took much greater chances in their constructions than is necessary 



for up-to-date, modern engineers. There is now no occasion for 
an engineer to make any hazardous experiments in his structures, 
because by careful study of scientific records he can render his 
results certain. 

In future the relations between engineers and the pure scien- 
tists will be even closer than they are to-day, for as the problems 
confronted by the engineer become more complex and compre- 
hensive the necessity for accurate knowledge will increase. 

The technical training now given engineers involves a grc i 
deal of the purely scientific; and it is evident that this traimii;. 
should be so complete as to give them a comprehensive knowledge 
of all the leading sciences that afhliate with engineering. There 
is no other profession that requires such a thorough knowledge of 
nature and her laws. 

Of all the various divisions and sub-divisions of the sciences 
hereinbefore enumerated and of those tabulated in the Organiz- 
ing Committee's "Programme," the following only are associ- 
ated at all closely with civil engineering: — 

Mathematics. 

Geology. 

Petrology. 

Chemistry. 

Physics. 

Mineralogy. 

Geography. 

Astronomy. 

Biology. 

Botany. 

Political Economy. 

Jurisprudence. 

Education. 

Economics. 
Attention is called to the fact that this list contains a nunmc 
of divisions from the four main groups of pure sciences, viz., the 
mathematical, physical, physiological, and social, and but one di- 
vision (economics) from the three groups of applied sciences, 
viz., the organic, constructive, and economic. The reasons why 
so little attention is to be given to the relation 1)ctwccn civil engi- 



10 

neering and the applied sciences are, first, in respect to organic 
science, there is scarcely any relation worth mentioning between 
this science and civil engineering, and, second, because the inter- 
relations between civil engineering and other divisions of con- 
structive science have already been treated in this address. 

Of all the pure sciences there is none so intimately connected 
with civil engineering as mathematics. It is not, as most laymen 
suppose, the whole essence of engineering, but it is the engineer's 
principal tool. Because technical students are drilled so thor- 
oughly in mathematics and because so much stress is laid upon 
the study of calculus, it is commonly thought that the higher 
mathematics are employed constantly in an engineer's practice; 
but, as a matter of fact, the only branches of mathematics that 
a constructing engineer employs regularly are arithmetic, geom- 
ety, algebra, and trigonometry. In some lines of work logarithms 
are used often, and occasionally in establishing a formula the cal- 
culus is employed ; but the engineer in active practice soon pretty 
nearly forgets what analytical geometry and calculus mean. As 
for applied mechanics, which, as the term is generally understood, 
is a branch of mathematics (although it involves also physics 
and other sciences), the engineer once in a while has to take down 
his old text-books to look up some principle that he has encoun- 
tered in his reading but has forgotten. Strictly speaking, though, 
engineers in their daily tasks utilize applied mechanics, almost 
without recognition; for stresses, moments, energy, moments of 
inertia, impact, momentum., radii of gyration, etc., are all con- 
ceptions of applied mechanics ; and these are terms that the engi- 
neer employs constantly. 

There are some branches of the higher mathematics of which 
as yet engineers have made no practical use, and prominent 
among these is quaternions. When it first appeared the con- 
ciseness of its reasoning and its numerous short-cuts to results 
gave promise of practical usefulness to engineers, but thus far 
the promise has not been fulfilled. 

Notwithstanding the fact that the higher mathematics are of so 
little use to the practicing engineer, this is no reason why theii 
study should be omitted from or even slighted in the technical 
schools ; because when an engineer has need in his work for the 



11 

higher mathematics he needs them badly; besides, the mental 
training that their study involves is almost a necessity for an en- 
gineer's professional success. 

Geology (with its allied branch, or more strictly speaking sub- 
division, petrology) and civil engineering are closely allied. Civil 
engineers are by no means so well versed in this important science 
as they should be. This, perhaps, is due to the fact that the in- 
struction given on geology in technical schools is mainly from 
books, hence most graduates find difficulty in naming properly 
the ordinary stones that they encounter, and are unable to prog- 
nosticate with reasonable assurance concerning what a proposed 
cutting contains. 

Geology is important to the civil engineer in tunneling, rail- 
roading, foundations, mining, water-supply, and many other lines 
of work ; consequently, he needs to receive at his technical school 
a thorough course in the subject given both by text-book and by 
field instruction. 

A knowledge of petrology will enable the engineer to determine 
readily whether building stone contains iron which will injure 
its appearance on exposure, or feldspar which will disintegrate 
rapidly under the action of the weather or of acids from manu- 
facturing establishments. 

Next to mathematics, physics is undoubtedly the science most 
essential to civil engineering. The physicist discovers and form- 
ulates the laws of nature, the engineer employs them in "direct- 
ing the sources of power in nature for the use and convenience 
of man." The forces of gravitation, adhesion, and cohesion ; the 
pressure, compressibility, and expansibility of fluids and gases ; 
the laws of motion, curvilinear, rectilinear, accelerated, and re- 
tarded ; momentum ; work ; energy ; the transformation of energy ; 
thermodyamics ; electricity ; the laws of wave motion ; the reflec- 
tion, refraction, and transmission of light ; and the mass of other 
data furnished by the physicist form a large portion of the first 
principles of civil engineering. 

The function of applied mechanics is to establish the funda- 
mental laws of physics in terms suitable for service, and to dem- 
onstrate their applicability to engineering construction. 

Chemistry is a science that enters into closer relations with 



12 



civil engineering than does any other science except mathematics 
and physics, and as the manufacture of the materials of engi- 
neering approaches perfection the importance of chemistry to en- 
gineers increases. Within a comparatively short period the chem- 
ist has made it possible by analyzing and selecting the constitu- 
ents to control the quality of cast iron, cast steel, rolled steel, 
bronze, brass, nickel steel, and other alloys. The engineer re- 
quires certain physical characteristics in his materials, and ob- 
tains them by limiting the chemical constituents in accord with 
data previously furnished by the chemist. The proper manu- 
facture of cement requires the combined skill and knowledge of 
the chemist and the mechanical engineer. 

In water supply the chemist is called in to determine the char- 
actef and amounts of the impurities in the water furnished or 
contemplated for use. The recent discovery that the introduction 
of about one part of sulphate of copper in a million parts of 
water will effectively dispose of the algae, which have long given 
trouble, is a notable instance of the increasing interdependence 
of these two branches of science, as is also the fact that the addi- 
tion to water of a small amount of alum will precipitate the earthy 
matter held in -suspension without leaving in it any appreciable 
trace of the reagent. 

In the purification of water and sewage, in the selection of 
materials which will resist the action of acids and the elements, 
and in the manufacture of alloys to meet various requirements, 
a thorough knowledge of chemistry is essential. 

A knowledge of mineralogv- is requisite for a clear understand- 
ing of the nature of many materials of construction, but is other- 
wise of only general interest to civil engineers. 

Geography in its broad sense is related to civil engineering in 
some of its lines, for instance, geodesy and surveying, but gen- 
erally speaking there is not much connection between these two 
branches of science. 

Astronomy is perhaps more nearly related to civil engineering 
than is geography, although it is so related in exactly the same 
lines, for the railroad engineer on a long survey must occasion- 
ally check the correctness of his alignment by observations of 
Polaris, and the coast surveyor locates points by observations of 



13 

the heavenly bodies. 

Biology is allied to civil engineering mainly through bacteriol- 
ogy as applied to potable water, the treatment of sewage to pre- 
vent contamination of streams, and the sanitation of the camps 
of surveying and construction parties. The treatment of sewage 
has been given much more thorough study abroad than in this 
country, but the importance of its bearing upon life in the large 
cities of America is becoming better understood ; consequently 
the progressive sanitary engineer should possess a thorough 
knowledge of bacteriology. In important cases, such as an epi- 
demic of typhoid fever, the specialist in bacteriology would un- 
doubtedly be called in; but a large portion of the work of pre- 
venting or eradicating bacterial diseases will fall to' the lot of the 
sanitary engineer. 

Botany comes in touch with civil engineering mainly, if not 
solely, in the study of the various woods used in construction, 
although it is a fact that a very intimate knowledge of this pure 
science might enable a railroad engineer or surveyor to deter- 
mine approximately the characters of soils from the plants and 
trees growing upon them. A knowledge of botany is of no great 
value to the civil engineer, and much time is often wasted on its 
study in technical schools. 

Political economy is a science that at first thought one would 
be likely to say is not at all allied to civil engineering ; but if he 
did so, he would be mistaken, because political economy certainly 
includes the science of business and finance, and civil engineer- 
ing is most assuredly a business as well as a profession; besides, 
the leading engineers usually are either financiers themselves or 
advisers to financiers. Great enterprises are often evolved, 
studied, financed, and executed by engineers. How important 
it Is then that they understand the principles of political economy, 
especially in its relation to engineering enterprises ! It is only of 
late years that technical students have received much instruction 
in this branch of social science, and the ordinary technical school 
curriculum to-day certainly leaves much to be desired in re- 
spect to instruction in political economy. 

Jurisprudence and civil engineering are closely allied in that 
engineers of all lines must understand the laws of business and 



14 

the restrictions that are likely to be placed upon their construc- 
tions by municipal, county, state, and federal laws. While most 
engineering schools carry in their lists of studies the "Laws of 
Business," very few of them devote anything like sufficient atten- 
tion to this important branch of science. 

Are the sciences of civil engineering and education in any way 
allied ? Aye, that they are ! and far more than most people think, 
for there is no profession that requires as much education as does 
civil engineering. Not only must the would-be engineer study 
the various pure and applied sciences and learn a great mass of 
technical facts; but he must also have in advance of all this in- 
struction a broad, general education — the broader the better, pro- 
vided that no time be wasted on useless studies, such as the 
dead languages. 

The science of education is so important a subject for civil 
engineers that all members of the profession in North America, 
more especially those of high rank, ought to take the deepest in- 
terest in the development of engineering education, primarily by 
joining the special society organized for its promotion, and after- 
wards by devoting some of their working time to aid this society 
in accomplishing its most praiseworthy objects. 

The science of economics and that of civil engineering are, or 
ought to be, in the closest possible touch ; for true economy in 
design and construction is one of the most important features 
of modern engineering. Every high-class engineer must be a 
true economist in all the professional work that he does, for 
unless one be such, it is impossible to-day for him to rise above 
mediocrity. 

True economy in engineering consists in always designing and 
building structures, machines, and other constructions so that, 
while they will perform satisfactorily in every way all the func- 
tions for which they are required, the sum of their first cost and 
the equivalent capitalized cost for their maintenance, opera- 
tion, and repairs shall be a minimum. The ordinary notion that 
the structure or machine which is least in first cost must be the 
most economical is a fallacy. In fact, in many cases, just the op- 
posite is true, the structure or machine involving the largest first 
cost being often the cheapest. 



15 

Economics as a science should be taught thoroughly to the 
student in the technical school, then economy in all his early 
work should be drilled into him by his superiors during his 
novitiate in the profession, so that when he reaches the stage 
where he designs and builds independently, his constructions will 
invariably be models of true economy. 

It has been stated that the relations between civil engineer- 
ing and many of the pure sciences are very intimate, that the va- 
rious branches of engineering, although becoming constantly more 
and more specialized, are so interdependent and so closely con- 
nected that they cannot be separated in important constructions, 
that the more data the pure scientists furnish the engineers the 
better it is for both parties, and that a broad, general knowledge 
of many of the sciences, both pure and applied, is essential to great 
success in the engineering profession. 

Such being the case, the question arises as to what can be done 
to foster a still closer affiliation between engineering and the other 
sciences, and how engineers of all branches and the pure scien- 
tists can best be brought into more intimate relations, in order to 
advance the development of the pure sciences, and thus benefit 
the entire world by increasing the knowledge and efficiency of 
its engineers. 

One of the most effective means is to encourage the creation 
of such congresses as the one that is now being held, and to so 
organize them and arrange their various meetings as to secure 
the greatest possible beneficial results. 

Another is for such societies as the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science and the Society for the Promotion 
of Engineering Education to take into their membership engi- 
neers of good standing, and induce them to share the labors and 
responsibilities of the other members. 

Conversely, the various technical societies should associate with 
them by admission to some dignified grade (other, perhaps, than 
that of full member) pure scientists of high rank and specialists in 
other branches of constructive science, and should do their best 
to interest such gentlemen in the societies' objects and develop- 
ment. 

A self-evident and most effective method of accomplishing the 



16 

desired result is to improve the courses of study in the technical 
schools in every possible way; for instance, by bringing promi- 
nent scientists and engineers to lecture to the students and to tell 
them just how scientific and professional work of importance is 
being done throughout the world, by stimulating their ambition 
to rise in their chosen professions, by teaching them to love their 
work instead of looking upon it as a necessary evil, and by offer- 
ing prizes and distinctions for the evidence of superior and ef- 
fective mental effort on the part of both students and practicing 
engineers. 

There has lately been advanced an idea which, if followed out, 
would aid the development of engineering more effectually than 
any other possible method, and incidentally it would bring into 
close contact scientists in all branches related directly or indi- 
rectly to engineering. It is the establishment of a great post- 
graduate school of engineering in which should be taught in 
every branch of the profession the most advanced subjects of all 
existing knowledge that is of real, practical value, the instructors 
being chosen mainly from the leading engineers in each specialty, 
regardless of the cost of their services. Such specialists would, 
of course, be expected to give to this teaching only a few weeks 
per annum, and a corps of regular professors and instructors, who 
would devote their entire time and energies to the interests of the 
school would be required. These professors and instructors should 
be the best that the country possesses, and the inducements of 
salary and facilities for investigation that are provided should be 
such that no technical instructor could afford to refuse an offer 
of a professorship in this school. 

Every modern apparatus needed for either instruction or orig- 
inal investigation should be furnished; and arrangements should 
be made for providing means to carry out all important technical 
investigations. 

It should be the duty of the regular faculty to make a special 
study of engineering literature for the benefit of the profession; 
to prepare annual indices thereof; to put into book form the gist 
of all technical writings in the transactions of the various engi- 
neering societies and in the technical press that are worthy of 
being preserved and recorded in this way, so that students and 



37 

engineers shall be able to search in books for all the data they 
need instead of in the back files of periodicals ; to translate or 
assist in the translation of all engineering books in foreign lan- 
guages, which, in the opinion of competent experts, would prove 
useful to engineers or to the students of the school; and to edit 
and publish a periodical for the recording of the results of all 
investigations of value made under the auspices of the institution. 

In respect tO' what might be accomplished by such a post-grad- 
uate school of engineering the following quotation is made from 
the pamphlet containing the address in which the project was 
advanced : — * 

"The advantages to be gained by attendance at such a post- 
graduate school as the one advocated are almost beyond expres- 
sion. A degree from such a school would always ensure rapid 
success for its recipient. Possibly for two or three years after 
taking it a young engineer would have less earning capacity than 
his classmates of equal ability from the lower technical school, 
who had gone directly into actual practice. However, in five 
years he certainly would have surpassed them, and in less than 
ten years he would be a recognized authority, while the majority 
of the others would be forming the rank and file of the pro- 
fession, with none of them approaching at all closely in reputa- 
tion the more highly educated engineer. 

"But if the advantages of the proposed school to the individual 
are so great, how much greater would be its advantages to the 
engineering profession and to the entire nation! After a few 
years of its existence there would be scattered throughout the 
country a number of engineers more highly trained in the arts 
and sciences than any technical men who have ever lived; and 
it certainly would not take long to make apparent the impress 
of their individuality and knowledge upon the development of 
civil engineering in all its branches, with a resulting betterment 
to all kinds of constructions and the evolution of many new and 
important types. 

"When one considers that the true progress of the entire civ- 
ilized world is due almost entirely to the work of its engineers, 
the importance of providing the engineering profession with the 
highest possible education in both theoretical and practical lines 
cannot be exaggerated. 

"What greater or more worthy use for his accumulated wealth 
could an American multi-millionaire conceive than the endow- 
ment and establishment of a post-graduate school of civil engi- 
neering such as that described!" 

♦Higfher Education for Civil Engineers. An Address to the Engineering: Society 
of the University of Nebraska, April 8. 1904. by J. A. L. Waddell. D. Sc. LL. D. 



18 

Another extremely practical and effective means for affiliating 
civil engineering and the other sciences is for engineers and pro- 
fessors of both pure science and technics to establish the custom 
of associating themselves for the purpose of solving problems 
that occur in the engineers' practice. Funds should be made 
available by millionaires and the richer institutions of learning 
for the prosecution of such investigations. 

Another possible (but in the past not always a successful) 
method, is the appointment by technical societies of special com- 
mittees to investigate important questions. The main trouble 
experienced by such committees has been the lack of funds for 
carrying out the necessary investigations, and the fact that in 
nearly every case the members of the committees were unpaid ex- 
cept by the possible honor and glory resulting from a satisfac- 
tory conclusion of their work. 

Finally, an ideal but still practicable means is the evolution of 
a high standard of professional ethics, applicable to all branches 
of engineering, and governing the relations of engineers to each 
other, to their fellow workers in the allied sciences, and to man- 
kind in general. 

As an example of what may be accomplished by an alliance of 
engineering and the pure sciences, the construction of the proposed 
Panama Canal might be mentioned. Some years ago the French 
attempted to build this waterway and failed, largely on account 
of the deadly fevers which attacked the workmen. It is said that 
at times the annual death rate on the work ran as high as six 
hundred per thousand. Since the efforts of tlie French on the 
project practically ceased, the sciences of medicine and biology 
have discovered how to combat with good chances for success 
the fatal malarial and yellow fevers, as was instanced by the suc- 
cess of the Americans in dealing with these scourges in the City 
of Havana after the conclusion of the Spanish-American war. 

The success of the American engineers in consummating the 
great enterprise of excavating a navigable channel between the 
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (and concerning their ultimate suc- 
cess there is almost no reasonable doubt) will depend largely 
upon the assistance they receive from medical science and its 
allied sciences, such as hygiene, bacteriology, and chemistry. 



19 

Geological science will also play an important part in the de- 
sign and building of many portions of this great work, for a 
comprehensive and correct knowledge of the geology of the Isth- 
mus will prevent the making of many costly mistakes, similar to 
those that resulted from the last attempt to connect the two 
oceans. 

Again, the handling of this vast enterprise will involve from 
start to finish and to an eminent degree the science of economics. 
That this science will be utilized to the utmost throughout the 
entire work is assured by the character and professional reputa- 
tion of both the Chief Engineer and the members of the Com- 
mission. 

Notwithstanding, though, the great precautions and high hopes 
for a speedy and fortunate conclusion of the enterprise with 
which all concerned are starting out, many unanticipated diffi- 
culties are very certain to be encountered, and many valuable 
lives are likely to be expended on the Isthmus before the first 
steamer passes through the completed canal. Engineering work 
in tropical countries always costs much more and takes much 
longer to accomplish than is at first anticipated ; and disease, m 
spite of all precautions, is very certain to demand and receive its 
toll from those who rashly and fearlessly face it on construction 
works in the tierra caliente. But with American engineers in 
charge, and with the finances of the American Government be- 
hind the project, success is practically assured in advance. 

What the future of civil engineering is to be, who can say? 
If it continues to advance as of late by almost geometrical pro- 
gression, the mind of man can hardly conceive what it will be- 
come in fifty years more! Every valuable scientific discovery is 
certainly going to be grasped quickly by the engineers and put 
to practical use by them for the benefit of mankind, and it is only 
by their close association with the pure scientists that the greatest 
possible development of the world can be attained. 




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